When I was a kid I would frequent (live at) my local video rental
place and one day a game caught my eye, it was a Dizzy game for the
mega drive, the box was incredible. Here’s this egg swinging from a
vine (any children reading, before vine was a short-video creation
tool for racial stereotyping and stop animation, it was a long rope
made naturally from plant life which Tarzan would swing from to save a
blonde woman in the jungle) looking all determined and capable, this
was years and years before video game mascots looked sick of life,
full of wistful ennui, already bored at the adventure ahead of them,
smug arseholes they are. This guy is ready to get amongst it, he’s
ready to get to the top of this cloud castle and kick seven shades of
shite out of whatever is in his way. The box art relayed to me this
game was a world of adventure, never ending possibilities and
challenges. I wanted this game.
At this age I couldn’t have an account at the local rental place, so I
biked home as fast as I could. As I got home I found that my dad was
no where to be seen (he was at the pub) so initially I was gutted,
potentially I’d be without this game for at least 2 days, which might as well be years for a child, but luckily for me my sister’s boyfriend had a membership, he agreed to go rent
the game with me, brilliant I thought. So I raced off to the rental
place, I waited around, game in hand, for my sisters boyfriend to turn
up, surely he’s just as excited to rent this game as I am, it’s an
adventuring egg for Christ’s sake! What felt like an eternity later,
no one had turned up, the game box placed back on the shelf and off I
biked home. He had of course forgotten all about it, so off we went,
together, to get this game. After entering the rental place for the
third time in the space of an hour, I finally had the game for a week.
I’ll cut the story short here because I’ve waffled on far too long,
basically my children’s idiot brain couldn’t get around the puzzles in
the game, I just didn’t know what to do. As amazing as the game looked
I was just too stupid to play it, there was seemingly so much to do,
so much to see, yet I was thicker than two short planks of wood.
So years later, I discover Spud’s Quest, again I see all the
possibilities, I see this world of adventure laid before me, all the
excitement of Dizzy was almost palpable but now I’m armed with an ever
so slightly smarter brain, even though that increase in intelligence
meant I can’t cycle to the shops and back three times without keeling
over and dying in the street, it was worth it. Quickly I found Spud’s
Quest to be right up my street, the same street you’d be likely to
find my lifeless yet flustered and sweaty body post bike ride.
Story:
This spud, this potato, this bit of a vegetable, this starchy,
tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanumtuberosum L. He’s
an every man, an every spud. Just a normal guy, until…a frog falls
through the roof. I know, I know, cliche or what! Passe! But wait,
he’s no normal frog he’s a prince. This frog formally known as prince
is in a bit of bother, his whole royal family has been turned into
little amphibians by an evil wizard and it’s up to you to make things
right.
That’s your story in a nutshell pretty much, that’s your raison d’être
anyway, but everything else story wise comes from the absolutely crazy
amount of characters throughout the game. Not that is fleshes out the
story in any meaningful way in fact most of the characters in the game
seem almost solipsistic in their narrow mindedness, it’s humorous
though and it’s clear the creator of this game is from the Midlands
(as am I) the humor is acerbic and very dead pan, I can’t actually
think of a time a character was glad to see me, quick though they are
to ask for something, typical isn’t it. Anyway, the writing is mature,
funny and self aware something you can’t say about most games nowadays
especially in this genre. I’m gonna knock out a terribly reductive
word to describe the story of this game, ‘charming’. It’s true though,
it’s really charming but I mean it in the truest sense of the word
you’ll know what I mean after playing it.
Presentation:
CHARMING! Oh sorry, where was I, the game looks beautiful, it’s all 2D
and sprite-y with sprites! It feels so thoughtful in the way it looks,
like every aspect of the level design was pored over with utter love
and care. It’s a labour of love and it shows throughout. Spud himself
is a bundle of determination, every aspect of his being shows he’s
capable of anything,the fact that he’s been dragged into all this
pretty much against his will is not enough to put this guy off, all of
this shown through some fantastic artwork and this doesn’t just apply
to spud himself, the whole game oozes with character, every screen is
beautifully realised and the variety is pretty outstanding, green and
joyful one moment, dark and decrepit the next.The world that
surrounds Spud is expansive and ever full of intrigue.
The music is also wonderful and evocative, it easily matches the
quality of the visuals to create a incredibly polished package. That’s
whats so unbelievable about this game it’s created by one person,
mental.
Gameplay:
It’s all good so far, I’d even go as far as to say it’s great but
platforming games are difficult to perfect, everything has to feel
just right, it doesn’t matter if it looks great, sounds great and has
a good story, if your platformer doesn’t platform correctly then it’s
all for naught. Thankfully it’s super responsive, it feels exacting
and precise in a way few platformers manage, I’m looking at you
Littlebigplanet you big load of float.
Spud handles superbly, other than being able to jump he can throw
things, when I say ‘things’ that’s because I’m not sure what it is he
is throwing, but by god can he throw them, and when you throw whatever
it is he is throwing into water, the water splashes! I don’t know why
that matters so much but it’s the sort of thing you expect to be
missing, mainly because it doesn’t matter if the water splashes but it
does splash and that makes me happy, okay? He can also climb, pull
blocks and flip switches he’s a swiss army spud. His froggy chum can
also interact with things which comes in handy when solving puzzles,
puzzles play a big part of this game mainly because that’s where the
challenge comes from. They’re bloody difficult too, it also makes this
game indefinite in length, who’s to say you’ll solve a certain puzzle,
at all! Good luck cheating your way through with a walkthrough and
believe me I tried, at the time of writing this I can’t find any
definite solutions, even the people on the Spud’s Quest forum talk in
riddles as to not ruin the challenge. I’m glad of it actually, it’s
hard but fair and 99% of the time the solution was staring me in the
face but I was just too daft to see it. When you do solve something
you either get that lovely warm gloaty feeling when solving something
difficult, the rest of the time you feel like a prat for not getting
it sooner, either way the puzzles are enjoyable in their variety, they
also make story sense, you’re not unlocking a door by solving puzzles
with matchsticks or something silly like that. You’re in ancient tombs
kicking around Goonies style.
I know I've gushed over this game and not said anything negative, well
honestly I don’t like to review games I don’t like, I’m not being paid
you see and until that day I’ll stick to writing about games I enjoy.
That said, the inventory system can be annoying and I know this is a
facet of the Dizzy games but maybe somewhere along the story Spud
could have found a bum bag (a fanny pack if you’re American) or a
backpack (a backpack if you’re American) and just done away with the
restricted inventory maybe half way through the game. I’m not a game
designer though so maybe I’m being an idiot in suggesting a living
potato wears a bum bag like some adventuring tourist on holiday in
Spain. It’s not a big deal as it stands.
So yeah I’m probably missing a million things but I’ll pretend it’s
deliberate and say ‘that’s for you to find out the rest’ when in fact
I just don’t really plan these reviews in any real way, I just jabber
away until my fingers get tired or I get hungry or thirsty or bored.
Spud’s Quest is great, it’s so worth a purchase. I’d love it if this
game came to the PS Vita it’d be perfect in that format, I’m allowed
to dream. Mouldy Toof Studios (who made this game) are also making a
game called The Escapists, I’d say that’s definitely one to watch. I
quickly peered at it while at Rezzed, then quickly averted my eyes as
to not ruin anything.
Anyway go buy it, it's great!